Chapter 9 



ABOUT CERTAIN OF THEIR PRINCIPAL FEASTS AND DANCES. 



Since the feasts of these Indians all consisted of dances, I shall 

 therefore treat certain ceremonies of their feasts, and especially cer- 

 tain dances on account of the rarities and oddities which they contain. 

 Although they enumerate many different dances, most of them amount 

 to being of the same kind, merely differing in the words of the 

 song, while the song and manner of dancing is the same. And so 

 great is the affection which they have for their dances that they will 

 spend days, nights and whole weeks dancing, and it can be said that 

 all their passion is given to dancing, for few days pass that they do not 

 have a dance, without becoming tired of a thing that is continually of 

 the same sort, the most insipid that one can imagine. 



Note : That these Indians are so fond of the dance is in memory of their 

 God Chinigchinix who as we have said above went away dancing to Heaven, 

 and they were of the belief that those who did not dance (that is, of the dancers, 

 who are only the chiefs, and Puplem or wizards), and those who did not 

 attend the dances, were to be punished and hated by their God Chinigchinix. 



The manner of fix-up or dress for their dances we already men- 

 tioned in treating the proclaiming of the [new] chief, it being a feather 

 ornament made like a crown from various feathers of birds, placed 

 on the head ; and the little skirt or apron, also of feathers, made in 

 the form of fringe which reaches half way down the thigh, which 

 skirt they call Pdelt; and the rest of the body painted black and red, 

 and some of them with some white, and fixed up in this way they dance 

 their dances. The women do not paint more than their faces, arms, and 

 breasts, with a kind of varnish between black and red color, very shiny 

 and sticky. It is to be noted that they never dance men and women 

 mixed, but the men alone, and the women alone, though they all dance 

 together, the men always apart and separate from the women, but 

 indeed all sing in the same tempo and the same song. 



Many of their dances are very decent and for a time entertaining on 

 account of the many maneuvers which they perform in them. There 

 are certain men and also women who are the singers, appointed for 

 leading in the song, who have some little shells of small turtles, a 

 couple of them stuck together, and with some little stones inside, 

 called Paail. This is the instrument which they used and still employ 

 in their dances. Since this instrument is made of some shells of small 



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